We Have a Winner on the Special-Query Stamp Contest!!

Hey y’all! Let me say first that I had SOOO much fun with this contest. At times, when I was reading your pages, I thought I was reading a book for free. How awesome is that?

It was hard to choose a winner. And it was sort of like this:

Monica B.W. enters a room full of gorgeous guys. She can’t believe how beautiful they are. But in the end, despite that they are all hot, only one guy winks at her and wins her heart. (Okay, Hubby, if you’re reading this, understand that this is only a metaphor! You know, the guys being the manuscripts?)

So, as I was saying, one of the entries won my heart.  And it was…

*drum roll*

THE SUNDERED!

By Ruthanne Reid.

Her pitch: A world that hates you is pretty bad; survival based on slavery is worse; but nothing tops having to choose between the survival of someone else’s species or your own.

Congrats, Ruthanne!

Please email me (loveya.blogspotATgmail.com) so I can give you further instructions about how to send your stamped query.

BUT. That’s NOT all, my friends! Remember how Monica entered a room full of handsome guys? Well, there were some that were really hot! And she just couldn’t let them walk away empty handed. 

So I emailed the participating agents with a list of the pitches I liked more. And they picked some of these titles because they wanted to read more.  Not everyone got picked.  And some entries got more interest than the others, so I’ll just paste the list of the people who got something out of this contest.  But I’m not posting who got what.  Please email me (loveya.blogspotATgmail.com) and I'll explain what you got and from which agent (s). I might take a little while to answer because I'm having internet problems, but that does NOT mean I forgot about you!

So an applause to:

Elizabeth Reinhardt
Sarah Enni
Christa Desir
Shallee McArthur
Katy Upperman

Heather McCorkle
Jenn Nguyen

For the people who couldn’t participate because were still polishing their mss: there will be another contest with one agent in a couple of months, so stay tuned!

Thanks to all the participants!

<3

Monica

Writing Bloopers

Just for fun—and so that you can laugh with me a little—I’m sharing some of my writing bloopers with you!
Here they go. ;)

1) Once, I sent a query without the title of my manuscript. (!)

2) The first time I got in a critique group, I didn’t know the members so well.  And there was this girl who had the same name as an agent I’d queried with my last MS.  So, since Gmail suggests addresses, I trusted Gmail and sent the chapter for critiquing to the agent, instead of this group member. *oops*

3) Remember this post in where former agent, Nathan Bransford, said there were so many people who misspelled his last name? And so he taught us to spell it properly (B as in boy, R - A - N, S as in Sam, F as in Frank, O-R-D. BransFORD)? Well, I read it, and then queried him. And I was SOOOO worried about getting his last name right that the query I actually sent to him was addressed to “Dear Ms. Bransford,” instead of “Dear Mr. Bransford.” *headdesk* (At least I spelled his last name right, didn't I?)

How about you? Do you have any writing blooper (s) you’d like to share with us so we can laugh a little?

PS: I’m almost finished reading the finalists' entries. Hang in there, and I’ll announce the winner next Monday--Tuesday tops (not tomorrow, but next week). Oh, and I replied to all the "Please Explain" emails, so if you emailed me and didn't hear back from me, please resend.

And the Special-Query Stamp Contest Finalists Are…

Hi everybody! *waves*
I know I said I'd post tomorrow, but I already have the list... so why delay it one more day? =) 

First of all, THANK YOU ALL for participating! And for sharing your first pages with me!  As I said, I had a blast reading them all, once, twice, thrice, (fourice? Fourfold! Thanks, Jay)!  I’ve gotta admit it was sooooo difficult to choose.  At first, I had like 50 finalists—no kidding.  But then I said, “Hoo boy, that means I’ll have to read 500 pages!” So I kept narrowing them down till I got to the final list below.

So, congratulations to:

Ruthanne Reid

Jo Hart

Chelsey Blair

Kimberly A Miller

Rebecca Paulin
Lori M. Lee

Amy Machelle

Heather McCorkle

Lizzie C. Friend

Brian Kell

Shayda Bakhshi

Elizabeth Reinhardt
Josin L. McQuein

Mary Holm

Katy Upperman
Jenn Nguyen
Caitlin Darrell
Nik Johnson
Sara Riouch

Kimberlee Turley
Shallee McArthur
Sarah Nicolas

Meyn Lorenzo
Sarah Enni
Cassandra Marshall

Christa Desir
Cait Peterson
Taryn

If your name is up there, please email me your first 10 pages along with your query to loveya.blogspotATgmail.com.  Don’t attach, just paste everything to the body of the email, and don’t forget to include your name, genre, and word count of your ms.  Put “Special-Query Stamp Finalist” + the title of your ms in the subject line. 

I’ll *try* to announce the winner in the next 2 weeks, so please send your pages today or tomorrow so I can start reading ASAP.  I’ll wait until Tuesday at midnight to receive the first 10 pages + queries.

For all of you who didn’t make it, I’m so sorry.  You know I’m all for helping you guys land agents, and that’s the reason I did this contest in the first place.  But, can you imagine what agents would say if I tell them, “Hey, I have 80 winners in my contest”???  

BUT…  since I read all the entries so many times, I know exactly why I didn’t pick some of them. So, if you’re interested in knowing why, AND IF YOU HAVE A THICK SKIN, I’d love it if you asked me what happened.  Send me an email to:  loveya.blogspotATgmail.com  and put “Please Explain” in the subject line. In the email, paste your one-sentence pitch and your first page (EXACTLY as you posted it in the contest) so I know what entry we’re talking about.  Note that I’ll probably start answering these explanatory emails AFTER the contest ends. So have patience with me, okay?

Oh and one more thing. Just so you know, I didn’t eliminate anyone because of typos or word count (I'd said 240-250 words). However, if I was on the fence with an entry, typos and word count helped me decide.  (There was more than one entry with 300+ words. And more than one entry with typos, too.)

I guess that's it.

I hope y’all had fun! And I look forward to hearing from all of you! =)

<3

Monica